Drier roll polishing device



0d., 27, 1931. C, W. POT ET AL 1,829,154

DRIER ROLL POLISHING DEVICE Filed Nov. 2l, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oc. 27, 1931. Q W POST ET AL 1,829,154

DRIER ROLL POLSHING DEVICE Filed Nov. 2l, 1928 5 Slfeets-Sneet 2 Oct. 27, 1931.

C. W. POST ET AL DRIER' ROLL POLISHING DEVICE Patented," oct. 27, 1931 CHARLESW. POST .AN-DELLS-W'ORTH L. MOUNISOF ORANGE, CALIFORNIA,

DRIER .ROLL POLISHING DEVICE Applicationl filed November 21,V 1928:1 Serial No. 320,842.

pears, and .citrusfruita the fruit is usually Washedand .dried .by machinery before it is graded according to surface characteristics,

f14 sized, and lpacked into boX-esfor shi ament.

OwingV to Vrecent discoveries, itV has now become,- azgeneral practice, inthe citrus industryat least, to passthevfruit through a chemical solution after' it isl` washed* and before it dried'inorder-to lriilV any mold spores onthefruit AWhichmight later cause its'decay. In'spite of effortsto properly rinse-'off' this solution before the fruit passes ii Yo the drier, largequantities-of solution are carried into'the drier. by the; fruit. Asthe Water in; this-solution is evaporated., a large portion of the chemical contained therein is of course deposited on the drier.

In the citrus fruit industry in. California and-Elorida, the driers-inmcst common use comprise a horizontal traveling androtating roller conveyer Which carries the fruit beneath fans which: blow-air` downwardly on the fruit and evaporate the moisture from it. lnV this type of drier the `chemical deposited from the.V solution forms.. rough projections upon, the surfaces of theserollers. Asvthe fruit restsupon and is continuously rotated byy these rollers-for ahalf hour or more while itis being dried, .the` projections thus formed on the rollersare pressed against the fruit many times and in many instances puncturing oftheoilicells .of the rind ofthe fruit resultsv Thisv of course makes subsequent infection ofthe fruitwith moldspores easyandfhas been found to. materially 1ncrease the percentage of decayed fruit in shipments transported to distant points.

It is therefore an .objectof ourf invention tofprovide `an apparatus for effectively preventing maccumulation of. depositupon citrus fruitdrier rollsv Whichwould be detrimental toy fruit carried` thereon..

in. certain citrus packingwhouses it has been the. custom in the pastto. periodically remove the rolls fromy the drier andfscrub theseV to remove accumulated .deposits theren from.

It is aV furtherl object .of our invention toy provide apparatus for cleaningleposited material' from citrusfruit ,drier rolls without removing said rolls from the drier.`

Further objects and adv'iantages willy be made manifest inthe following..description and in the accompanying drawings,in which:

Fig. l is the diagrammatic lrepresentation of a citrusA fruit Washinggand drying apparatus `with which our` invention v.is adapted tobe associated.

Fig. 2 is a 4bottomplan view of apreferred embodiment ofthe roller polisher of ,our invention taken inthe direction ofthe-arrow 2 in F ig. l.

F ig. 3 is a transversevertical sectional ,View takenon theline3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. i is-a fragmentary vertical sectional vieivtalren on the line'd of Eig. 3.

Fig. 5 isfragmentary view: on .thel same scale as Fig. 4 illustratinghow one end ofthe pressure bar of our invention is ixedupon the frame of a drier.

F ig. 6 is -a,-.fragmentary. enlarged .sectional vvieW taken on th eline 6--6 ofFig. 4. Fig. Tis an elevational view taken inthe direction of thearrowf in Fig, 3.

Referring specificallyv to the drawings, an apparatus L10 .isshoWn in Fig. l, particularly adapted to Washing, chemically treating and drying oranges,` and grapefruit.. he. apparatus l0 includes a Washer-l1,.a solution tanklQ, arinser 13, af loose fruit elevator 1li andA a roller drier l5. Although this apparatus is suitable for. handling several-different citrus fruits, .in -the following descriptionwve will consider it. When used in the packingpforanges. y

rEhe Washery l1 is providedwith rotating brushes 18 having their surfaces suitablfyr threaded VVso that. fruit resting between. the brushes is carried in the direction of the ar.- roW 19. from one end-to the other. ofthe brushes, the surfaces of the fruit being scrubbed clean by these. brushesduring this passage. Disposedabove. the brushes 18'are spray manifolds QOand 121 Whiohspi.7 jf soap Sii solution and rinse-water respectively over the oranges as they travel alpn'g brushes 18. The. solution tank Y:12, has 'la submerger 23 i whichi'.a comprises a slatted belt, the lower the right hand end of the solution 24 and are carried through the solutionto theleft hand end of the treating tank 12 where they are liftedifrom the solutionby the conveyer 25 and deposited upon a horizontal conveyer 26 o f the rinser 13. Positioned above the conveyer 26,'is a spray manifold 27 which con- V tinuously'discharges a spray of fresh water onto the oranges carriedon'the conveyer26.

' 'This spray as it drips from Vthe conveyer 26 is collected in a drain pan 28 and disposed of in some way so that the chemical carried in it maynot inj ure' any vegetation.V

After passing through the'rinser 13 the oranges enter 'buckets of the loose fruit elevator 14 andV are lifted upwardly and discharged onto 'the left hand end of the upper flight 30-of a roller vconveyer 31 of the drier 15. The conveyer 31 includes a pair of endless Vchains 32 and 33 vbetween :which suitable wooden rollers 34 are pivotally mounted in a manner to be described later.l The'upper flight 30 ofthe conveyer 31 is drawn in the direction of the arrow 35 by suitable sprockets 36 with which'the chains 32 and 33of the conveyer 31 mesh. Lying beneath the upper flight 30 of the conveyer 31 is a lower flight 37 thereof, which is drawn in the opposite direction fromthe arrow 35 by suit- 'able sprockets 38 meshing with vthe chains 32'and33. i i' v The opposite ends of the rollers 34 in both of the flights 3() and 37 aresupported on suitable tracks 40and 41. As the'rollers 34 travel, therefore, they turn so as to continuously rotate oranges carried upon them.- AFruit deposited on thelerft end of the' upper flight 30 after being carried-the length of this flight is discharged from theV right hand end of the flight 30 by any suitable means, such as a chute 44, onto the right hand end of the lower flight 37. This fruit is of Vcourse'carried by theflight 37 to its opposite end where it is discharged ontoV any suitable conveying means such as achute 45.

I Provided above the upper flight 30 ofthe conveyer 31 is a series 0f fans 47 mounted upon and operated by a shaft 4 8, the draft in these fans being directed downwardly by a` suitable housing 49 upon the oranges carried by the conveyer 31. Y Y ,"The apparatus 10 has been'illustrated and described fory the purpose of making clear the difficulties which are being met at present in the citrus industry in California owing Vto the inevitable transfer of chemical from the rollers 34. Y

There are several reasons for failure ofthe apparatus in present use to prevent this trans- Y fer. Principal among these is the limitation of the amount of water which can be used in the rinser 1.3. This results from,first, the cost ofthe water, and second, the limited facilities for disposing of this water so that the chemical carried in it will not have the opportunity to injure vegetation. Thus, while the strength ofsolution on the oranges is considerably reduced by the rinse water, it is not entirely Y* removed. This small remaining amount of chemical is carried into the drier 15 by each orange of the twelve hundred to two thousand boxes which pass through the drier in an average days run. The aggregate amount ofchemical thus vtransferred tothe rollers 34 is sufficient, in only a few days run, to build-up deposits of irregular shapes presenting sharp edges which do considerable dama-ge to the fruit passing through the drier.

Packing house managers generally are aware of the damaging effect vof this deposit but the expense of taking the rolls out of the drier and cleaning them tempts many managers to let the cleaning of the rollers go longer thanis good' for the fruit.

In order, therefore, to prevent the building up of chemical deposits on drier rollers into shapes which damage the rfruit and in order to inexpensively accomplish the removal of these deposits from drier rollers, we have provided a roller polisher 50, the position of which isdiagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1 and which 'may be described in detail as follows: I

The drier. 15, the construction of which is well known in they art, is' usually lsuspended from the rafters of a packing house as by rows ofv uprights 60 and 61 Vdisposedy along opposite'sides of the drier. Extending horizontally and'connecting'lower endsof opposite uprights 60and 61 are support bars 62. Resting on these bars are longitudinal chain tracks 63 and 64. The roller tracks 40 and 41 upon which the lower flight 37 of thecon veyer 31 travels are secured to the inner faces of the chain tracks 63 and 64 and also rest upon said bars 62. y Y

The rollers 34 are spaced so that the centers of adjacentl pairs are separated a distance equalto the length vof two links of the chains 32and 33. Every other link of these vchains is what is known as a lug linkand has a lug 65, each of which extends into a hole provided axially in an end of one of the rollers p34. The rollers 34"are thus drawn lalong the tracks 40 and 41 byv the lugs 65. Secured to theouter faces of the chain tracks 63 .and 64 are horizontally' disposed boards 67 and 68 which lie between said tracks and the y uprights 60 and 61. v Secured to inner faces of rollers 34 about once every two days and this is vdone when there is no fruit in the drier. We haveffound that aconvenient timefor cleaning the rollers is at night when a night watchmanis alwayson duty in every paclting house and.'4 can be entrusted with this task.`

To polish the rollersvby the polisher 50, the bevel pinion 121is securely fastened to the shaft 75 and'Y the pressure bar 128 carrying Y crsf'34 into snug contact with the upper surit may be necessary tovrun kthe entire conveyer face of the pad 95. 7

In order to clean oif vcertain chemicals from the rollers34 we have V found a solvent isvery helpful. VFor example, where the chemicalusedin the solution 24 is `sodium bicarbonatewe have used kerosene with great success asasolvent. Toassistthe polishing of the rollers of the average size drier, about sixquarts of kerosene Vis poured over the pad 95 so that this seeps down through the terry cloth and feltinto thevpan 102 and saturates the cocoa mat 105. Power is now applied to the shaft-'7 5 which sets the drier 15 in ,opera- `tion,and alsocauses ythe mechanism 110 to reciprocate the pad 95 while pressedl hard against the rollers 34y by kthe shoe 125.

Y The solvent inthe pad-95 is ofcourse applied to the rollers 34 as they are rubbed by the pad 95 and the chemical deposited upon the rollers is removed by the pad, leaving the rollers smooth and with a bright polish. If the polishing of the rollers in the manner above described is'done every two or three days it can be satisfactorily accomplished by running the drier with the polisher in op# eration 'long enough so that the entire conveyer 31 contacts the pad 95 at least once, WhereV the rollers are very dirty, however,

through the polisher' two or 'even three times in order to satisfactorily remove'the chemical adhering to the rolls, f

` A single circuit of the roller conveyerl usually requires about half an hour. llt `is quite an advantage therefore that our roller polisher will accomplish its work without any further attention after it has been once set into operation.

Although we show anddescribe but a single preferred embodiment of our invention',

it is to be understood that various modifications may be made in this embodiment without departing from Athe spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.` For instance, it isnot'essential that the roller polisher 50y be mounted to operate upon the lower conveyer iiight 37 as above described,

but might equally well be mounted as indicated by the dotted lines 50al in Fig. 1'.y When thus mounted, the polisher 50 could be allowed to operate continuously upon the rollj' ers 34 at a' much less pressure that is applied possible owing to thefact that when in the position 50a the pressure shoe`125- of the-polisher 50 would not be inthe way of fruit pass'- ing through the drier 1'5and could therefore be permitted to remain in positionto Contact the rollers 34 while the drier is in use.

WeV claim as our invention: j`

1. In combination with a 'fruit drier in whichthe fruit is carried upon a roller conveyer while being dried, of:v a pad mounted to contact the rolls ofsaid conveyer; means for reciprocating said pad axially with yrespect to said rolls; and means forsupplying solventto said pad' duringk said reciprocationl f.

2. In combination' with a-.fruit drier in which the fruit iscarried upon a roller conveyer while being dried,-of: a pad mounted to contact the rolls of said conveyer; means for reciprocating said pad axially with respect to said rollsg'and means for pressing said lrolls against said pad during said reciprocation. Y W

8. In combination withk a fruit` drier in which the fruit is carried upon a roller conveyer while being dried, of: polishing means contactingthe rolls kof said conveyer means for operating said vpolishing means; Vand means for pressing said rolls against. said polishing means. L "e .4. vIn Ycombination with a fruit drier in which the fruit is carried upon a roller conveyer while being dried, of: laterally reciproeating polishing means contacting the rolls ofsaid conveyer; meanspfor operating said polishing means; and means for'causing said rolls to rotate innon-rolling relation ywith said polishing means while in contact therewith.l

5. In combination with a` fruitdrier in which the fruit is carried upon a roller conveyer while being dried,- ofzlaterally reciprocating polishing means-contacting the rolls of said conveyer; meansfor operating said polishingfmeans; and means for pressing said rolls against ksaid polishing means.'

6. In combination with a roller fruit drier, a roll polishing device comprising: a slideway provided adjacent a path over which said rollers travel; a pad reciprocably disposed on said slideway 'so asto, Contact said rollers; means to reciprocate said pad; and

means for retaining a supply of liquid in said pad during said reciprocation.

7 .3 In a vdevice for'polishing the 'rolls of a traveling rotating roller. conveyer, the vcombination of: means for polishing said rollers as they pass a given point; and means engaging said rollers, oppositethe place where said polishingfmeans is applied, for causing a reverse rotation of said rollers'from that which they would take in a rollingcontactfwith said Polishing-means. f 7 'Y 8. In a device for polishing the rolls of a traveling rotating roller conveyer, the combination of: means for polishing said rollers as they pass a given point; and means frictionally contacting said rollers7 opposite the place Where said polishing means is applied, for causing a reverse rotation of said rollers from that which they would take in a rolling Contact with said polishing means. lo 9. A combination as in claim 7 in which said polishing means moves crosswise of said Conveyer during the reverse rotation of said rollers.

10. A combination as in claim 7 in which said polishing means reoiprocates orosswise of said conveyor during the reverse rotation of said rollers.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands at Los Angeles. California, this 14th day of November, 1928.

CHARLES W. POST. ELLSWORTH L. MOUNT. 

